Daughter of the Olympians
by Andalee
Summary: Mattie Maddox never knew she was adopted. When she is thirteen, she finds out that she isn’t who she thought she was. Mattie’s on a mission to figure out where she came from, and why she doesn’t even fit in at a camp full of kids who are already different
1. The Way It All Began

"Mattie?" my mom called up the stairs. "Come down, please. We need to talk."

_Talk?_ I thought. _This must be about my 62 on the math test._ I put down my math homework (What a brilliant idea, to stop me in the middle of my math homework, the class that I'm FAILING.)

I walked downstairs and into the living room. One wall was completely windows, looking out over the spacious backyard. At the end of the room was a table strewn with bits of colored glass, Mom's latest project. The walls were a pale blue, painted to 'relieve stress' as Mom said.

Mom and Dad were sitting on one of the two facing couches (also blue). Dad was still in his medical coat and scrubs, which made me sure that this _wasn't _about math. Mom was in her yoga stuff, blonde hair plastered to her neck with dried sweat.

"Sit down, Mattie." Dad said, gestring to the opposite couch.

"Why are we talking?" I asked, perching on the arm of the couch.

"Mattie, you will be fourteen in October, and we were... told... a long time ago... to tell you this news the summer before your fourteenth birthday, and before, if necessary." Mom said gently.

"Um, okay..." I said. "Then why does it look like Dad rushed home from work, and you didn't take a shower after yoga?"

Dad flicked his eyes to Mom for a split second, a 'you are handling this question' look.

Mom took a deep breath. "Mattie, you were adopted."

My eyes widened. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Normally a chatterbox, I couldn't think of what to say.

Likewise, my normally full brain was mostly empty. The thoughts scrolled like a banner: _Why haven't they told me until now? I look nothing like my parents. I mean, Mom is barely five feet tall, with straight blonde hair. Dad is just over 5'5", and he has black hair and blue eyes. I'm a little taller than Dad, but I haven't quite reached adult height, and I have brown curly hair and brown eyes. __Why didn't I figure out before now that I was adopted?_

"We found you on our doorstep when you were only a month old. There were a few consent forms, but no one could make out the name from the signatures. Under _Child's Name_ they just wrote 'Baby.' And then there was this note." She handed me a semi-yellowed piece of paper. It said:

**Please take care of her. Her name is Materia. She was born October 24th, 1995.**

**Do not tell her any of this until June before her fourteenth birthday,**

**and send her to the enclosed address. From there she will choose her destiny.**

**Olympian Strawberry Farm**

**Farm Road 3.141****  
Long Island, New York 11954**

The address seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't place it. I looked up at my parents. "Did you research the farm?"

Dad nodded. "There is a farm with that name, near that address, that supplies strawberries to high-end restaurants in New York City. But no one has ever met the owner."

"We'll look when we go to New York, then." I said confidently.

Dad looked at Mom. My heart sank. "We are still going, right?"

"Yes, of course!" Mom said. "Lucy is still coming, too."

I smiled. Lucy was my only friend, and Mom and Dad had been hesitant to let her come because she is in a wheelchair because of a car wreck, and she only moved here last year.

"And we can check out the strawberry farm?" I clarified.

"Yes." Mom said decisively. "We can drive you there, you and Lucy can go by yourselves..." She trailed off.

I nodded. Mom was such an understanding parent. She was very spiritual, but she had no _real_ religion. She just went her way.

"Che..." my dad said. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

Mom sighed. "Luc, Mattie and Lucy are very responsible. It's not like anything life-threatening will come out of this." She chuckled drily.

"Can I go?" I asked, standing up. I was halfway out the door when I turned. "Why did the note say 'her name is Materia' if the forms just said 'Baby'?"

Mom shook her head. "I don't know, Mattie."

I walked back to my room and continued slogging through my math homework.

It wasn't until later that I realized Mom hadn't answered my question about why she hadn't showered and why Dad was still in his scrubs.

* * *

**Two Weeks Later, New York City**

We _drove _to New York, instead of flying, which I found odd. We _always_ flew, even if we were going from Atlanta to Birmingham.

It was a long drive, but since I could jabber with Lucy all I wanted, I didn't really mind all that much. Plus, we had better snacks in the car than the stuff on the plane.

As the New York City skyline came into view, Mom ejected the Kelly Clarkson CD we'd been listening to, and amid Lucy's and my protests, (and Dad's thanks,) put in a new CD.

"Mom!" I cried. I was going to say more, but as the first chords of "NYC" from _Annie_ came on, My eyes lit up and I smiled, blissfully humming along.

Soon, Mom, and Dad were singing along.

Lucy just sat and listened with a half- smile on her face.

Traffic crawled to a halt once we entered New York proper, but we soon reached our hotel. There was a parking garage, where the car would live while we were here. (and it would hopefully be there when we needed to leave...)

Dad parked the car, and we unloaded the stuff onto rolling carts to bring up to our suite. (One of the many perks of being a rich kid, though I hate stereotypes.)

I wheeled Lucy onto one elevator with her stuff on the back of her wheelchair, and my backpack on (where else?) my back. (I hate suitcases, so I always bring just one backpack, instead of a rolling monstrosity of a suitcase.) and Mom, Dad, and the carts went onto the other one. I punched the button for the 26th floor.

We traveled up while annoying music played.

_Ding!_ I looked at the digital display for what floor we were on. 13. I had never been superstitious.

As the elevator slowed, Lucy stiffened, her nostrils dialated, and her eyes went wide.

At first I thought she was having a seizure, but when she rolled over and jammed the door closed button, I realized she was just freaked out.

I stared curiously at her as she repeatedly puched the 1st floor button.

As we arrived, she tossed me her cell phone, saying, "Call your 'rents. I don't care what Keer-"

She whipped her head around, surveying the lobby. "I mean, call them NOW!"

"Okay, Okay!" I was shocked. Lucy was so mild, usually. "Do you mind me asking why?"I asked as Lucy whizzed to the curb and frantically hailed a taxi.

"Tell them that you're going to check out the address!" Lucy said as a cab finally pulled over.

Something in her voice made me listen to her, and I called Mom's cell. She would understand way more than Dad would.

I talked to Mom for a moment as I helped Lucy into the cab.

"So soon?" she asked when I told her why we were leaving.

"You said we could go on our own..." I reminded her.

She sighed. "All right, then, but call me when you guys get there."

"I promise, Mom. I love you." I said.

"I love you too, honey."

I snapped the phone shut and handed it to Lucy.

"Ready?" she asked.

The cabbie was watching us impatiently.

Lucy told him the address, and his look changed to one of disbelief.

"Ya got enuff money?" He asked. I showed him some money, (another of the perks of being a rich kid) and he reluctantly nodded.

About 15 minutes later, Lucy sat up as a pine tree on a hill appeared on the side of the road. "Stop here!" she cried.

The cabbie stared. "There's nuffin' here." he said, but he stopped the cab.

I handed him the cash, and helped Lucy out.

"Up the hill," she instructed, anxiously looking around.

I pushed her up the hill. As we passed the pine tree, she sighed in relief. I saw the valley spreading out below, and something clicked. _I know this place. I have been here before._

* * *

My brain scrambled to make the connection.

Lucy beamed. "Mattie, welcome to Camp Half-Blood." she swept her arms out in a wide arc, as if presenting the valley to me.

_Camp__ Half-Blood__. Books. R, R-something. Rick? That's right, Rick Riordan. But, I haven't just READ about here, I know I've BEEN here._

Lucy looked at me, obviously expecting me to say something, as she was unaware of my inner turmoil.

"I've been here before." I blurted, unthinkingly. _Great time for your ADD to act up- Oh, god. I'm a half blood._

Lucy frowned, clearly not expecting me to say _that_. "I- I don't understand." she said. "I know you read those Percy books, but you having been here?" she shook her head. "Impossible."

I shrugged. "I can't explain it, but it feels so _familiar. _Like deja vu times 10." I reached out and touched Thalia's tree gently, like I was stroking a cat.

Lucy bit her lip. "You'll need to talk to Chiron. Or maybe the Oracle. How should I know? I'm only a Keeper." She nodded towards the Big House. "Over there, Mattie."

I wheeled her over to the house, and up the ramp onto the porch. We rounded the corner, and, sitting at a table, playing cards, was Chiron (in wheelchair form) and Mr. D.

Chiron looked up. "Lucy?" he said in surprise. "We weren't expecting your update until the end of the sum-" Then he saw me. And stared, mouth open.

Mr. D. looked up disinterestedly, glanced at his cards briefly, then stared at me in shock.

Chiron recovered first. "Welcome." he said. "Are you familiar with-"

"She knows, Chiron." Lucy interrupted.

Both Chiron and Mr. D paled. "About what exactly, Lucy?" Chiron said sharply.

"Um, camp, the gods, and so on. What else?" Lucy said, bewildered.

"Good." Mr D. said. He looked me over and nodded. "Luck is needed for you to succeed, child. Welcome, Materia Maddox." He stood and walked into the Big House.

Chiron pursed his lips, worried. He saw Lucy's expression and immediately became cheerier. "Oh, my dear! This has _nothing,_ I repeat, _nothing_, to do with your Keeping abilities! Look at Allie, Alex, and Natalie, not to mention Anna! Come here." He held out his arms, and Lucy began to wheel herself over to him.

He chuckled. "The charade is already over, Lucy. There is no need for the wheelchair anymore."

Lucy grinned and got out of her chair, giving Chiron a hug.

"I'll show Mattie the Hermes cabin and get someone to show her around, then I'll give you an update. Is that alright with you?" Lucy asked, kicking off her shoes to reveal goat hooves. (Of course, I'd already guessed that she was a satyr, but it was weird to see my best friend with _hooves._

Chiron nodded. "I'll be here for a while."

Lucy led me down to the cabins. We passed small clusters of people, who said hi to Lucy and nodded at me.

Eventually, we stopped at the Hermes cabin. A lot of campers were in there, because it was almost lunchtime.

"Cabin Eleven, this is Mattie Maddox." Lucy told the assembled campers.

"Regular or undetermined?" asked a girl with long, wavy blond hair.

"Undetermined." I said.

Before anyone else could talk, moan, or anything of the sort, Lucy quickly asked if anyone would show me around before lunch.

"I'll go." It was the girl that had asked 'regular or undetermined'. She stood up and walked over to us.

"Allie?" Lucy asked slowly, cocking her head.

"Lucy!" the girl (Allie) asked.

"I can't believe it!" Lucy shrieked, and they hugged.

A boy near the door covered his ears. "I can't hear anymore." he complained.

"Suck it up, Dylan." Allie told him, smacking his shoulder, but she gestured that we should moved outside anyway.

I walked around the cabins, looking at the decorations while Allie and Lucy gabbled on about who knows what.

When the conch horn blew for lunch, Lucy and Allie looked up. "Sorry, Mattie." Lucy said sheepishly. "Allie'll show you around after lunch, I guess."

I shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me, anyways."

"Then lets get to lunch!" said Allie, and we raced off to the pavilion.

* * *

**Thanks for reading this far into my story! Flames and reviews welcome!**

_And thanks to my reviewers:_

_Annie-morphs_

_Thaila-Luke_

_MyPenIsSharperThanYourSword_

**_Taurus989-_****(I'll take that as a compliment.) thank you! (but in what way, exactly?)**

**_olympianchef213_**

**_Coco96_**


	2. Percy, Pegasi, and Maybe, My Dad?

After lunch, Allie showed me around the camp.

My feet hurt really badly by the time we got to the stables. I wasn't used to all of this walking.

And then I got an idea. "Hey, Allie?"

"Yeah?" she looked over at me.

"Can you show me the rest of camp on a pegasus?" I asked hopefully.

Allie paused at the stable door. "That's actually not a bad idea. You'll see more up there any way."

We walked along the row of stalls. About half currently had an occupant, and the rest were off being ridden, I guess.

Down at the last stall, a boy with black hair was brushing off a black pegasus.

"Yeah, I know." He said, but I didn't see anyone else in here. He pulled a couple of sugarcubes out of his pocket and fed them to the pegasi.

Allie cleared her throat. The boy turned, and I saw he had green eyes and black hair. His hand was over his pocket, and he was tensed up, but when he saw Allie, he relaxed.

"Hey, Allie." He said. "What's up?"

Allie shrugged. "This is Mattie, I'm showing her around." she said, gesturing to me.

"Hey, Mattie." He said. "I'm Percy, by the way."

So this was the famed Percy Jackon.

"Why'd you freak out when Allie cleared her throat?" I asked curiously.

Too late, I realized that I should probably have kept my mouth shut.

Percy smiled crookedly. "I've been attacked too many times not to go on the defense when I hear a weird noise.

"We'll ride Diana and, um, Luna." Allie said as Percy turned back to the pegasi.

Allie led Luna and Diana out, and gave me a boost up onto Luna's back.

We flew around for a little over two hours, Allie pointing out the main sights. While we flew over the forest, I saw something huge moving around.

I pointed this out to Allie.

"Oh, that's just one of the monsters that lives in the woods for, like, fights and stuff." Allie assured me.

Funny. I didn't feel assured.

After that, we flew back to the stables and put Luna and Diana back into their stalls.

_More oats would be nice, milady._ A quiet female voice said.

I jerked around, looking for the source.

Allie glanced at me. "Are spastic seizures normal for you, Mattie?"

I groaned. " No. But I'm hearing voices." I said, rather crazed.

"Have you taken your meds today?" Allie asked, concerned.

"I don't take meds for my ADD." I told her.

_Are you ok? _another voice, male this time, said.

I twitched.

Allie stared at me. "Seriously, are you ok?"

"Yes, sure. Please don't spread this around camp, Allie. I'm new, please!" I begged.

She glanced at me. "Why would I do that?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "I'm not like that, Mattie. We all have issues, otherwise we couldn't get inside the borders. Our whole family is messed up, and so are we. "

She slammed down a water bucket in a sink and forcibly turned on the water. "Even if we don't actually know who our parents are." she muttered under her breath, probably thinking I couldn't hear.

_Oats._ The female voice said.

"Luna?" I walked towards the pegasus, talking softly, so Allie couldn't hear me. "Is that you talking?"

_As you say, duh._

"Horses." I whisper. "Hearing them means Poseidon is my dad, right?"

"You aren't a Big Three." Someone behind me said, making me jump.

I spun around, red faced.

Lucy was standing behind me, with another satyr.

It was the other satyr who had spoken.

"Well, that was rude." Lucy at the other satyr.

The other satyr looked ashamed. "Sorry." he mumbled.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Excuse Grover, he's too preoccupied to use his brain function on anything but his girlfriend."

I smiled tentatively. "Grover..." I said. "Why'd you say that?"

Grover shifted uncomfortably. "Well," he said, (I guess he was gathering his thoughts together.) "You doesn't smell like Percy."

Lucy sighed. "You were listening to Luna talking, correct?"

I nodded.

"Well, that usually means you are Posiedon's kid, but you don't smell the same." she said lamely.

"Then what does she smell like?" Allie had decided to join the conversation.

"She smells like a minor god or goddess." Grover said.

Lucy stared at him. "Were you serious, or is this just your preoccupied brain randomly spewing nonsense out of your mouth?"

"Um, serious?"

"You don't sund sure." Allie said.

"Great, so now you're ganging up on me?" Grover said, exasperated.

"Fight later." Lucy said.

"This makes no sense." Grover said. "Mattie, your eyes aren't green."

"Wow." I said drily. "Thanks for telling me something I did not know, Captain Obvious."

Grover shrugged. "That would be a primary indicator that you were Poseidon's kid, but your eyes are brown, so you're not."

"Does that really matter a lot?" Allie asked.

Lucy nodded. "Your eyes will be the color of your Olympian parent about 75 percent of the time."

Allie's eyes were suddenly brighter.

Grover opened his mouth to say something, but right then, the conch horn blew.

"Dinner already?" muttered Lucy.

I checked my watch. "It's not time for dinner."

Grover cleared his throat. "It would be bad to be late, whatever it is."

We all walked as fast as we could towards the dining pavilion.

* * *

**Author's Note: Ta-da! The book characters have been introduced. I promised myself I would update this weekend, and I spent THREE HOURS writing this Saturday night (and since I'm writing this at 12:20midnight local time,) Sunday morning.**

**_Thanks to my reviewers for the last chapter:_**

**_Coco96_**

**_Annie-morphs_**


	3. Seriousness and Eavesdropping

We were the last to arrive in the pavilion. I put my hands on my knees and panted for breath. Allie, Lucy and Grover seemed perfectly fine, not breathing heavily at all.

Chiron nodded at us, acknowledging our presense, then continued to speak.

"- camp's border. We _have_ to be more aware. This monster could have destroyed everything here."

"What is he talking about?" Allie asked a boy standing next to her. The boy looked so similar to Allie, I figured that they must be siblings, if not twins.

"Monster attacked the border, no one there, caught just in time. Where were you?" He said all in one breath.

"Don't ask now, Alex. I figured something out, thanks to Lucy." Allie said, not looking at him, talking quietly out of the corner of her mouth.

Alex shrugged, rolling his eyes, and faced Chiron again.

_They're twins,_ I thought,_ And I'll bet Allie is older._

"I won't dole out any punishments today." Chiron continued. "Just, please be more aware in the future. You may all go back to your activities now."

A general murmur spread around as everyone began trickling out of the pavilion, going back to their activities.

"Wait!" Chiron called.

Everyone turned back to him expectantly.

"And don't forget that Rick is coming in a few days, campers. That is all."

"Who's Rick?" I asked to the group in general.

"Rick Riordan." Alex answered. "He comes by every once in a while to gather more info for the books."

"Oh, okay..." I said. "His website says he's the Senior Scribe, right?"

Alex nodded. "Whatever that means."

Allie jumped in. "Publicist. Senior Scribe is a fancy word for publicist. Rick is the Camp's publicist, even if tons of people only think the books are fiction."

"You used the word publicist three times in a row." I said, glancing around. "Now what?"

Allie glanced at me, almost guiltily. "Well, Alex and I have to go do something now, but you can hang out with Lucy until dinner, right?"

"Um, I guess." I said.

"Thanks for understanding!" Allie called as she dragged Alex off.

I turned to Lucy and Grover, who were having some sort of intense discussion.

"-but the smell-" Grover was saying.

Lucy saw me watching and said quickly to Grover, "We'll talk about it later."

Grover sighed, mumbling something about being under-appreciated. Raising his voice, he announced "I'm going to visit Juniper." He walked off.

_Isn't the forest the other way?_ I thought, wrinkling my forehead. _Oh, well._

"Ignore him, he's just being a grumpy old billy goat." Lucy said, giggling.

Suddenly a thought hit me and it tore out of my mouth before I had time to process it. "How old are you, Lucy?"

I blushed. It's rude to ask someone's age, isn't it?

"Thirty-two. But I have the emotional developement of a 16 year old." Lucy said, not caring at all that I'd asked.

Sensing my next question, she said, "I can pass for younger because of the wheelchair. That was a random question, by the way."

I shrugged. "You've known me for a year, you should know that I **_am_ **random."

Lucy sighed. "All right. We have an hour or so until dinner, I may as well start you on learning Ancient Greek." She trotted off and I followed.

Lucy went and retrieved a thick book that looked to be college level. She and I walked down to the ampitheater and sat in the stands.

"Do you know any Greek at all?" Lucy asked.

"Um, modern or ancient?" I asked, only half paying attention. A bunch of kids in the lake had just flipped their canoe, and, judging by their reactions, they were Aphrodite's kids.

Lucy shrugged. "Since you're _here_ and not in Greece, Ancient is better. But either, really."

"Dad taught me some modern Greek." I said, sighing. "I- I don't know why, but maybe he was prepping me for here."

Lucy nodded and began leafing through the book.

A thought hit me. "Um, Lu?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" she said, still searching for a specific page.

"I never called Mom. And I promised."

Lucy looked up and saw the panic in my eyes. "Your dad'll be freaking out, won't he." It wasn't a question. She knew my dad was a bigger control freak than I was, and apparently, that's saying something.

I nodded. "Any phones here?"

"Chiron has one, but-"

I ran off.

"Mattie, wait!" Lucy called.

I totally ignored her and ran up to the Big House.

"-smells odd. Not exactly normal." Mr. D was saying.

I froze on the porch, sensing tht something important was going on behind that door. My curiousity got the better of me, and I ducked under the half open window to eavesdrop.

"How does she smell, then?" a woman's voice asked.

"She smells almost like a child of yours, Lady Demeter." Chiron said.

_Demeter?!??! What the heck? Why is she here? _I wondered. I looked at the date on my watch. JUNE 21. The summer solstice. _And the gods are meeting here? Why not at Olympus?_

"**_Is_** she yours, Demeter?" A man's voice thundered.

_That has to be Zeus._ I thought.

"No, she is not mine." Demeter sighed. "Do we not have more pressing matters to discuss than a half-blood's heritage?"

"An excellent question, but the fact is, She smells too strongly to be a half-blood." Whose voice was that?

"Smells too strongly _how,_ Mr. Underwood?" Zeus thundered.

_Mr. Underwood? Who is that? Wait...Grover!_

"Well, sir, she smells sort of like a-" gulp. " Big Three, but she doesn't, uh, look like any of you." I could imagine Grover standing in there, eyes darting and licking his lips nervously.

"Demeter has a point." Another woman said. Her voice sounded cold and calculating. "Why _are_ we discussing the parentage of this child? Why is this so important?"

"Grover, you are excused." Chiron said.

"Thank you, Chiron, Lord Zeus, and the rest." Grover said hurriedly, and the front door opened.

I scrambled around the corner so he wouldn't see me.

Once off the porch, Grover wandered towards the forest, not looking back.

* * *

**Author's Note: It took me a week to bang this chapter out. I revised it so many times... but I'm making an attempt to have each chapter be 1,000 words or more.**

**_Thanks to my reviewers for chapter 4:_**

**_olympianchef213_**

**_Coco96_**

**_Annie-morphs_**

**_Honest101_**

**OH, WAIT! And Happy Christmas. And Happy Hannukah. And Happy Kwanzaa. To you all.**

[[12/24/08]]


	4. More Eavesdropping, and More Secrets

_I scrambled around the corner so he wouldn't see me._

_Once off the porch, Grover wandered towards the forest, not looking back._

When I was sure that Grover couldn't see me, I crept back under the window.

"-couldn't say in front of-" Chiron said

"-Athena has a point-" Dionysis insisted

"-important?-" Athena asked

"-smell like-" Demeter said impatiently

"SILENCE!" roared Zeus.

Everyone shut up quickly, and I held my breath so they wouldn't be able to hear me breathing.

"Now, Lord Hades, I believe you have something to say?" Zeus continued.

"Thank you, brother," Hades said in his dark silky voice.

"What are you doing, you idiot!?" a voice frantically whispered behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned towards the person guiltily, but quietly, so I wouldn't be struck down by the wrath of the gods in the room behind the wall.

It was Lucy, thank God- _Thank the gods,_ I corrected myself- and not a counselor or some random camper.

"Why are you here?" Lucy hissed. She looked terrified and yet extremely pissed all at once.

Not waiting for an answer, she took my arm in a death grip and hauled me off the porch.

I put up no fight, because that would make too much noise, and that would lead to my eavesdropping being exposed.

Once we were out of earshot of the Big House, Lucy gave me an earful.

"You imbecile!" Lucy shrieked. "The gods could have fried you to an absolute _crisp_ if they had caught you listening to their solstice meeting!"

"Yeah, about that," I said, not believing that Lucy's wrath was real, because it was completely unfounded.

"Mattie, shut up and listen to what I am saying." Lucy said sharply.

I shut up. Lucy had a dangerous glint in her eyes that really freaked me out.

"Mattie, the gods discuss things that would scare the crud out of you and scar you for life, if the nightmares didn't drive you insane first." Lucy said, gripping my shoulders and shaking me.

"Lucy, they weren't discussing anything freaky." I said, gently taking her arms off of my shoulders.

Lucy still looked pissed, but not as scared. "What were they discussing?" she asked slowly and with white lips.

"Um, the parentage of one of the campers." I said, shrugging.

Lucy's eyes went wide and her face went pale.

"I personally don't see what the big deal is, and neither do Athena and Demeter," I continued, oblivious to Lucy's emotional state.

"Who was it?" she asked.

"I didn't hear her name, you yanked me away before they said it." I said. I looked closer at her face. "Are you ok?" I asked worriedly.

"Thank the gods." Lucy whispered softly.

"What is it with all this secrecy?" I exploded. "First my parents telling me I'm adopted; Then coming to this camp, a place that I thought was a fictional setting from a book; Allie, who was supposed to help me these first few days here, dumping me on you and going off with her twin brother; and now you and the '_mysterious parentage' _(here I did air quotes and a snobbish expression) of one of the campers... I'm sick of it!" I threw up my hands in exasperation and bagan to stalk off.

Lucy put her hand on my shoulder. "Allie and Alex aren't twins." was all she said.

I blinked owlishly. "But they look so similar..."

Lucy held up her hand. "Truce?" she asked. "I don't berate you for your stupidity, and you don't tell Allie I told you this, 'kay?"

"All right." I sighed. "More secrecy." I grumbled under my breath.

Lucy sat, patting the ground next to her.

I sat down, waiting to hear the information I wasn't allowed to let Allie know that I knew.

"Allie and Alex have a 'missing' triplet sister, Anna." Lucy began slowly.

"So they're like the Quagmire triplets from _A Series of Unfortunate Events_?" I asked curiously.

Lucy stared at me.

"What?" I said. "Whadid I do?"

"You read the most obscure books."

"I do not! They are very well known-" I began indignantly.

"Do you want to hear this or not?" Lucy asked.

"I wanna hear it." I said meekly.

"Allie and Alex don't speak about her, because its too hard." Lucy continued. "They arrived when they were ten, beat up and desperate for medical attention."

"what-" I began

"Let me tell the story, Mattie." Lucy said with a sigh.

"Sorry."

"They were attacked in New York by some monster, I'm not sure of the kind. Chiron fixed them up pretty well, and for a few weeks, they were happy."

"Uh-oh." I said "I sense a but coming..."

"Mattie!" Lucy cried. "stop interrupting!"

"Sorry!" I cried. "Wait, I remember Chiron saying something earlier about your Keeping abilities, and you haven't failed with me, blah blah blah, 'look at Allie, Alex, and Natalie, not to mention Anna!'" I quoted.

Lucy nodded. "I _was_ their Keeper, but Anna didn't trust me, and convinced the other two to ditch me. After I realized it, I tracked the monster to the alley where it had cornered them, and the four of us were able to kill the monster. Chiron and the campers treated their wounds, and they settled into camp life."

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes. "And then came that disastrous visit of-"

"The Hunters, right?" I asked excitedly.

Lucy cracked open one eye.

"I can't not interrupt." I told her. "I have ADD, remember? What's the difference between ADD and ADHD, anyway?"

"You are sidetracked far too easily, Mattie. Where was I? Oh, yeah, the Hunters. This wasn't the visit where their cabin burned down, that was..." Lucy thought for a minute. "Wait, maybe it was. I don't remember. Anyway, Anna took an immediate liking to Artemis, and joined the Hunt. Allie and I believe it was due to the security that the Hunters could give her, the security that her alcoholic mother and absent father couldn't provide. Allie still believes, to this day, that it is her father's fault that Anna deserted her and Alex. She thinks that if he had claimed them when they first arrived, that Anna would have felt like she belonged, and not have joined the Hunt."

"Oh," I said softly. "Allie's more messed up than I am."

Lucy laughed. "By half-blood standards, you are not messed up at all."

"Not messed up? One of my parents is a _god_, for crying out loud." I said with a grin.

Lucy smiled. "What about me? I have goat hooves!"

We laughed, finding it much more funny than it should have been, but what the heck. It had been a stressful and surprising day.

* * *

**Author's Note: Can you believe I updated so soon? Neither can I. I can't believe I wrote 1,152 words of this right after posting the last chapter. My muses love me right now, I guess. **

**Also this isn't the end or anything, I just cut the story here, otherwise this chappie would have been 2,000 words...**

**Thanks to my new reviewers:**

_storm-brain_

_rose (anonymous) _

_The Ocean Is My Inkwell_

_EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou_

_Ard Rhys_

_kelly jackson (anonymous)_

**And to my "regular reviewers" for Chapter 5:**

_Coco96_

_olympianchef213_

_Annie-morphs_

[[12/27/08]]


	5. A Powerful Force

**A Quick Note To Anonymous Reviewers: If you have an actual account, please review using that, because I enjoy returning the favor if you review my stories.  
thanks,  
FFWG**

** And now, presenting chapter 7!**

* * *

Grover walked up to us once we were semi-sane. He seemed to have calmed down while he was talking to Juniper, or while he was doing whatever he was doing.

"Hey, Grover!" Lucy said. "Did you chill out some while you were talking with Juniper?"

Grover shrugged. "I guess."

"I was asking because you seem a little... I don't know... rattled would be a good word." Lucy said.

Grover didn't meet her eyes. "I said, I'm fine."

"Whatever you say, Grover." Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

"Is that Juniper?" I asked, pointing to a dryad at the edge of the forest.

Grover and Lucy looked over there.

Lucy frowned. "What the heck is she doing, Grover?"

Grover rolled his eyes and sighed.

I looked more closely at what Juniper was doing. She was frantically running around her tree, gently removing dead branches and tidying the area around her tree.

"Yeah, what _is _she doing?" I asked.

"She says some nature spirit is near, and she wants her tree to look nice." He rolled his eyes again.

_He rolls his eyes as much, if not more than a teenage girl,_ I thought.

I giggled at that, and Lucy and Grover looked at me curiously.

"Sorry." I said, then hiccuped.

Grover turned back to Lucy. "So anyway, I told her she was probably just smelling-"

"Demeter, right?" I interrupted absentmindedly, playing with a few blades of grass and knotting them together.

I looked up, hiccuping again.

Lucy was repeatedly banging herself in the head with the palm of her hand, saying "Stupid. Dodo. Brain. Of. A. Half. Blood. Mattie. Is. An. Idiot."

She stopped, burying her face in her hands. "Mattie, why?" she moaned.

"What did I do -_hic-_ this time?" I asked, bewildered.

Grover stared at me, mouth gaping wide.

"What did I _-hic-_ do?" I repeated, slower this time.

Lucy moaned, and flopped her head to me. "I'm not gonna yell at you again, Mattie, but the solstice meeting being here instead of at Olympus is a _secret_."

"I hate secrets." I said, crossing my arms, hiccuping again.

"We've already established that." Lucy said. "And no wonder, you're horrible at keeping them."

"How did you- ?" Grover spluttered out. He seemed to be in shock.

"Uh, eaves_-hic-_dropping?" I said brilliantly, managing to make it sound like a question.

Grover snapped out of his reverie, and his face took on the look of an adult about to give a lecture.

"Curiousity killed the cat, Mattie." Grover warned. "Well, more accurately, curiousity kiled the mortals who wandered too close too the gods when they were talking amongst themselves." He looked at me to see if the message had sunk in.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I didn't _-hic-_ die, so now we can _-hic-_ forget about it and _-hic-_ move on."

Lucy sighed, and we lapsed into silence. I even stopped hiccuping.

The silence became too much for me to handle at the same time a thought occured to me. (what can I say? I'm a very talkative person. And my brain never stops buzzing.)

"Why _are_ the gods meeting here and not on Olympus?" I asked.

Grover sighed. "Will you shut up if I tell you?" he asked tiredly.

"Yes! I will! Tellmeplease." I said, leaning forward eagerly and clasping my hands together.

"Some ancient, powerful _something _stirred early this morning. The gods wanted Chiron's opinion, and since they were meeting today anyways, they just decided to have the meeting here, since Chiron can't go up to Olympus." Grover explained.

"Oh." I said. I looked down at the blades of grass I was still clutching. I looked back up into Grover's face. "Then why were you in there talking?"

Grover looked slightly panicked. "I... was backing up Chiron's theories with fact."

"You testifying about the scent of a kid here was backing-" I began skeptically. "mphno munnphy!" Lucy had covered my mouth with her hand.

"You can go, Grover." Lucy said, still covering my mouth. "I' gonna have a talk with Mattie here about _keeping secrets_." She gave me a death stare.

"Okay. See you at dinner." Grover said. He backed up slowly, then turned around and ran.

_Like in a horror movie, or someone running away from an insane person, _I thought.

Lucy kept her hand on my mouth, and swiveled to face me.

"Secrets are meant to be kept!" She began angrily.

I licked her hand.

"Eww!!" She shrieked, wiping her hand on her shaggy hindquarters and jumping away.

**

* * *

**

**Author's Note: My muses are still kind, allowing me time to update, and Mattie is becoming even more of an immature brat, which was not my intention, but whatever. I'm only telling her story, she's the one who's creating it!**

**Thanks to my new reviewers:**

oh wait, there aren't any. Oh well.

**And, of course, to my 'regular reviewers'**

_Ard Rhys_

_Coco96_

_olympianchef213_

_Annie-morphs_

_The Ocean Is My Inkwell_

_EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou_

[[12/28/08]]


	6. Dinnertime

"Mattie, that is disgusting." Lucy said, still vigorously wiping her hand off.

"It got you to get your hand off of my mouth, didn't it?" I pointed out.

Lucy looked angry again, and opened her mouth to let me have it, when the conch blew.

Staring warily at her, I got up and began walking towards the pavilion.

Staring angrily at me, she got up and ran towards the pavilion, leaving me behind.

I looked after her, feeling tears that were threatening to spill over. I felt so alone. I didn't mean to alienate my best friend, who had been my _only_ friend until this morning.

"Mat, you okay?" someone called from behind me.

I wiped my nose, which was running because of my almost-tears, and turned.

It was Allie, walking with Alex in the direction of the pavilion.

"Hi, Allie!" I said as brightly as I could, but it felt fake.

Allie (and Alex, too) tactfully ignored my fake happy voice.

We all continued on towards the pavilion in silence for a minute.

I couldn't bear the silence. "Soo..." I said, frantically scouring my head for a subject of conversation.

I hit upon one. "What were you guys doing?"

Alex looked at Allie. She shrugged.

"Eye color." She said with a sigh.

"Huh?" was my intelligent response.

We were at the pavilion now, and as we sat down and waited for the food, Allie elaborated.

"Annabeth said that 99.9 percent of the time, a kid has the eye color of their Olympian parent." Allie said. Then, "Root beer."

"What?" I said, now utterly befuddled.

Allie stared at me. "I was talking to my cup."

"Oh." I said, looking at the tabletop, feeling like an idiot.

Alex, who was sitting next to me and across from Allie, leaned over and whispered, "Ignore her. I've made the same mistake multiple times."

The food was now here, so we picked up our plates and walked up to the fire. Allie tossed in over half of her food, muttering something I didn't hear.

Alex tossed in a couple slices of meat, muttering, "amunpho," or something like that.

I scraped in a bunch of delicious-looking strawberries. "For my parents." I whispered under my breath.

The rest of dinner was sort of subdued, mostly because of the earlier lecture on security.

Allie finished earlier than everyone else. (Probably because she dumped half of her food into the flames, but whatever.)

She stared at me while I finished eating. It was really disconcerting, actually.

"Allie, could you _please_ stop staring at me?" I asked.

She blinked. "Sorry."

I took a sip out of my cup.

"What is that?" Allie asked, pointing to my cup, a revolted expression on her face.

"Um, Coke." I said. "Why do you ask?"

She shrugged, then shuddered. "I can smell that disgusting stuff from here."

Alex rolled his eyes. "What do you have against Coke, Allie?"

Allie looked at him. Not a normal look, either, but a 'why are you ganging up on me' Look.

"Today has been crap." She said.

I nodded. "I think I agree with that."

Chiron pounded his hoof for attention. He looked tired and worn-out from his meeting with the gods.

Mr. D. also looked vacant and bored. Well, he always looked bored, but he looked more bored than usual.

"Campers," Chiron began, "I think that tonight, an early lights out is in order."

Surprisingly, not much of a fuss was made. The attack on the border must have been a bigger deal than I thought.

Everyone began to go back to thier cabins.

Once we were back in the Hermes cabin, in our pajamas and our teeth had been brushed- well at least _I _had brushed my teeth. Judging by the smell, none of the guys had. Excuse me for acting Aphrodite-ish, but _EW_!

I fell asleep pretty quickly, even though I was in a constricting sleeping bag, shoved up against a wall.

I had the strangest dream.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Muahahaha! I ended with suspense. Review, maybe I'll update sooner. (No guarantees, people. :D) And hey, THE DEMIGOD FILES comes out soon. YAY!

Also, I noticed something when reading _Mythology for Dummies._ The 4 big heroes and thier quests have been the basis for the first 4 PJO books. If we figure out who the 5th main hero is, that'll be part of PJO#5!  
Lightning Theif: Perseus (Medusa)  
Sea of Monsters: Jason (Golden Fleece)  
Titan's Curse: Hercules (Nemean Lion, Garden of the Hesperides)  
Battle of the Labyrinth: Theseus (The Labyrinth)

**Thanks to my new reviewers:**

_Ultimacy on High_-who returned the favor of reviewing. *waves* thanks, UoH!

_a friend (anon.)_-who comes up with the most interesting theories. (And you may be right, you may be wrong, there's no way of knowing! *teehee*)

**And to my 'regulars':**

_Coco96_-who amazes me with her enthusiasm. But, her enthusiasm keeps me going when I am tempted to stop.

_olympianchef213_-who is desperate to know what happens next. (She isn't a daughter of Aphrodite, chef213)

_kelly jackson (anon.)_-who needs to get an account so I can review her stories.

_Ard Rhys_-who has a good sense of humor

_Annie-morphs_-who has reviewed since chapter 1. Yay Annie!

_EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou_-who is too hyper for her own good, and frequently issues death threats.

**And to all of my reviewers:**

**Thanks SO much. I love reading what you think, and I like your many, varied, and unusual theories (Are you guys in the Gifted/SPACE program?) And I love seeing the email subject [FF Review Alert: Daughter of the Olympians] It really brightens my day.**

**[[12/31/08]]**


	7. The Dream

I had the strangest dream. It was almost like it was actually happening, or it had actually happened.

_Mom and Dad were driving in the car down some random road I didn't recognize. Dad was driving, looking was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were white._

_Mom looked tense, which was strange, because she's usually so, "Find your center, Mattie. Let out all of that negative energy, and bring in all the good."_

_"Here." Mom said, pointing to a drive off to the left._

_Dad pulled the car down it._

_After a couple of minutes, a long, gray, depressing building came into view. Dad pulled into a parking spot, and he and Mom got out of the car._

_They walked inside, where a receptionist was sitting at a desk._

_She looked up. "May I help you?"_

_"Yes," Mom said. "We were looking for Mrs. Wallace."_

_"All right." the receptionist said. "She's in Room 106. Make sure to sign out when you come back."_

_"Thanks." Mom said, flashing a brief smile._

_They waked deeper into the building, stopping at Room 106._

_Dad hesitated. "Che, are you sure?"_

_Mom looked at him, her look clearly saying,_ Please go along with this, I'm begging you!

_Dad sighed and his shoulders slumped. He followed Mom into the room._

_"Mrs. Wallace?" Mom called softly, walking into the room, which was darkened, and only minimal light came through the window._

_"I'm in my chair, darling. When am I ever out of it?" A woman's voice, creaky yet cheerful, said from near the window. _

_Mom took anther step into the room. "Hi Mrs. Wallace," she said, speaking in that adult to little kid voice._

_"I'm not stupid, child." Mrs. Wallace said bluntly. "I may be 84 years old, but I am not an idiot, my brains are not addled."_

_Mrs. Wallace turned the wheelchair around and wheeled herself towards my parents. Her hair was grey, shot throught with lingering streaks of black, and her eyes were slightly sunken, and since her face was also in shadow, it was hard to tell what color her eyes were._

_"Sorry, Mrs. Wallace."_ _Mom said,_ _sounding sincere now. _

_"Why do you seem familiar?" Mrs. Wallace asked. _

_Mom's eyes flashed panic for a minute, then she shook her head. "That's not important right now."_

_Mrs. Wallace half-smiled. "Well, your reasons are not idle, I presume."_

_Mom took a slip of paper out of her pocket. "Do you recognize this address?" _

I leaned in to look at the words. But it was almost like Mrs. Wallace realized I was there, she tilted the paper so I couldn't see.

_Mrs. Wallace looked up and smiled. "That's why you look so familiar. Why have you not visited? Your sister visits once a week."_

_Mom flinched. _

_Dad looked at her. "What is she talking about, Che?"_

_Mrs. Wallace looked at Mom, a curious expression on her face. "So you're going by Che now."_

_"Yes, but that's irrelevant. Do you recognize the address?" Mom said urgently._

_"Yes." Mrs. Wallace said it so softly, it was like a sigh._

_Mom leaned forward eagerly._

_"It's a place I knew well in my youth. It's called Camp Half- Blood." Mrs. Wallace said._

_Mom looked confused._

I sucked in my breath. It had never occurred to me that some half- bloods survived to adulthood.

_Mrs. Wallace looked perceptively at me, and I knew that she saw me. She half smiled, and mouthed, 'I see you, godling. I won't tell them you're here.' she giggled. 'they can't see you.'_

_"Who are you talking to?" Mom asked._

_'That's why I was commited to the loony bin.' Mrs. Wallace mouthed. 'They think I'm crazy.'_

_"Who. Are. You. Talking. To." Mom said between gritted teeth._

_Mrs. Wallace sighed. "No one."_

_Dad cleared his throat. Both Mom and Mrs. Wallace looked at him. "Sorry." He mumbled._

_"Mrs. Wallace," Mom began._

_Mrs. Wallace held up her hand. "Please," she said. "If you can't call me Mom, call me by my first name. Stop with the 'Mrs. Wallace' nonsense."_

"MOM?" I shrieked.

_Mrs. Wallace (Well, I guess she's Grandma) winced. She looked at me, clearly saying, BE QUIET._

_Mom (my mom,) sighed. "All right, Nut."_

_Dad inadvertently let out a chuckle, then abruptly stopped, realizing that he was probably insulting Nut._

_Nut looked at him. "There is always a reason for a name, Lucas. And mine has a double meaning. It either means 'crazy' or describes my parentage."_

_"Anyways," Nut continued, "This is the address for Camp Half- Blood. This is the note that was with your adopted daughter when you found her?"_

_Mom nodded. "Yes."_

* * *

**Author's Note: 50+ REVIEWS?!?! YOU GUYS ROCK!...Well, those of you who reviewed, anyways... *glares at the readers-not-reviewers***

**Also, Happy New Year! I used writing this chapter to help me stay up until midnight. HOORAY FOR 2009! **

**And, if you can guess Nut's Olympian parent, and the signifigance of her name, you can get one question about the story answered. [Just Passin' Through is the closest so far...]**

**Thanks to my new reviewers:**

_Ashe (anon.)- thanks! I feel so honored!_

_365. Pages. of. Awsomeness_

**And to my regulars:**

_Ultimacy on High_

_Ard Rhys_

_Annie-morphs_

[[1/1/09]]


	8. The Rest of the Dream

_Nut looked at him. "There is always a reason for a name, Lucas. And mine has a double meaning. It either means 'crazy' or describes my parentage."_

_"Anyways," Nut continued, "This is the address for Camp Half- Blood. This is the note that was with your adopted daughter when you found her?"_

_Mom nodded. "Yes."_

_Nut sighed. "I never told your father, you or your sister this, but I am a child of the gods."_

_Dad eyed Nut with a 'You are an insane old woman, why should I listen to you?' look._

_Mom looked sad. "Nut, please..."_

_Nut sat up straighter, indignant. "You don't believe me."_

_Mom sighed. "What gods?"_

_Nut's eyes flashed triumphantly. "Greek gods. They moved with the center of the west-"_

_"Mrs. Wallace?" A voice called from the door way._

_Mom and Dad turned. It was a nurse pushing a cart._

_"Oh, I didn't realize you had visitors."_

_Mrs. Wallace smiled. "Hello, Dilly. This is my daughter Chezarina and her husband Lucas."_

_Mom flinched. "I go by Che now, Nut." _

_Nut rolled her eyes._

_Dilly hesitated, then pushed the cart in. "It's time for your meds, Mrs. Wallace."_

_Nut almost bared her teeth. "I do not need meds."_

_Mom turned to Dilly, an... interesting expression on her face. "Can you give her her meds later?"_

_Dilly blinked. "Sure." She wheeled the cart out of the room._

_Mom sat in one of the hard plastic chairs. "Nut, can you elaborate?"_

_Nut smiled. "The Greek gods are real, Chezarina. And your adoptive daughter, what's her name?"_

_Mom sighed. "Her name is Materia."_

_"Materia!" Nut laughed. "How ironic. Her name means 'of the human world' and she is anything but. The word 'material' is derived from Materia."_

_Mom gave Nut a look._

_Nut sighed and continued. "Materia's birth parents are a god and mortal, hence the term half- blood or demigod."_

_"Nut, are you sure this isn't the ravings of a... senile old woman?" Dad said, rather harshly._

_Mom flinched (Boy, is she jumpy today.) and I bit my lip, worried about the wrath of Nut._

_Nut just smiled. "Lucas, if you cannot be kind, please step out of the room."_

_Mom looked at Nut._

_Dad shoved his hands in his pockets and put his head down._

_"That's what I thought you would say." Nut said. "I am willing to bet anything that you are a son of Hephaestus."_

'This is too weird.' I thought_._

"Dylan, I'll bet you ten bucks Hephaestus claims you." A voice said.

I groaned and rolled over, banging my head on the bottom of someone's bunk.

"Ow." I mumbled, eyes only half-open.

"Dude, I'll bet twenny bucks!" a boy's voice grated.

I wriggled around trying to get untangled from my sleeping bag, banging my head again in the process.

"I see that you have yet to be accustomed to waking up in a sleeping bag." Allie's voice wafted down from the bunk above.

"Ung.." I groaned, eyes still closed. "wh' time issit?"

"Uh..." I heard Allie shifting around on her bunk. "Seven thirty. Then inspection is at eight, and then breakfast is after that."

I pulled my pillow back over my head, snuggling deeper into my sleeping bag.

Then suddenly, the pillow was gone, lifted away by someone I couldn't see.

I cracked one eye open to see Allie standing over me, holding my pillow captive.

"Givvit back." I said, swiping at it.

Allie held it out of my reach. "Get up. We only have thirty minutes to make the cabin look like a tornado _didn't _hit it."

I shoved my self up into a sitting position, letting my eyes get accustomed to the light.

I helped everyone clean up. We passed inspection (barely) and headed to breakfast.

Once again, Allie dumped half of her food into the fire, finishing earlier than everyone else.

Nothing really noteworthy happened at breakfast, I was half- asleep, so I don't remember much anyway.

After we had all been sent off to our activities, I walked up to Chiron.

"Hello, Materia, what can I do for you?" he said kindly.

"It's Mattie." I corrected.

Allie came up behind me, smacking me lightly on the head.

"Respect Chiron." she whispered in my ear as she came up to stand beside me.

_

* * *

_

**Author's Note:**

**New reviewers:**

Just Passin' Through (anon.)- geez! you're so close!

**My regulars:**

365. Pages. of. Awsomeness

Ard Rhys

Toimi (The Ocean is My Inkwell will hearafter be referred to as Toimi)

olympianchef213

Coco96

MyPenIsSharperThanYourSword

Ultimacy on High

A friend (anon.)- who is still amusing me with her theories... and makes me laugh hysterically when I read her reviews. (Hey, if you did write a random coughnottruecough fic about Nut, I'd love to read it...)

**[[1/5/09]]**

* * *

_Acc**al**ia  
_


	9. Talking to Chiron, Mom, and the Oracle

Allie came up behind me, smacking me lightly on the head.

"Respect Chiron." she whispered in my ear as she came up to stand beside me.

I winced.

Chiron didn't seem to notice. "Hello, Accalia. Are you helping Mater- sorry, Mattie- to settle in?"

Allie smiled. "Yeah, I'm doin' my best." She draped her arm around my shoulders.

Chiron nodded. "That is very good of you, Accalia."

Allie blinked once, not a confused blink, but an "I'm absorbing what you are saying" blink.

"Please, call me Allie, Chiron. I don't know why my mom saddled me with such a name."

Chiron semi- laughed, just a little puff of air out of his nostrils.

"Anyway, Mater- I apologize, Mattie-"

"It's okay, you can call me Materia." I interrupted. "Here, it doesn't seem like such a weird name."

Chiron half- smiled. "What did you want to ask me, Materia?"

"Oh, right!" I said. "I need to call my parents, let them know I'm ok."

Chiron nodded, unclipping his cell phone from his quiver.

I looked at it cautiously. "Can't monsters detect-" I began.

Chiron shook his head. "It is safe within the borders."

"Ok, then..." I said, taking the phone and punching in Mom's cell phone number.

"Hello?" Mom said, in her crisp, "I do not recognize this number" voice.

"Mom, it's me, Mattie." I said.

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright." Mom said.

"Mom?" I asked hesitantly, feeling stupid for asking.

"What, sweetie?" Mom asked.

"Did- I mean-" the words stumbled over my tongue. "Nut." I finally said.

"What are you-"

"The old lady in the nursing home."

"What are you-"

"Mom?" I said frantically.

"Your call has been disconnected." A robotic voice informed me.

Numbly, I handed the phone to Chiron.

"Nut?" Allie snorted. "Who would name their kid _Nut_?"

Chiron looked interested. "Nut Arianrhod?" he asked.

My eyes widened. "Was that her maiden name?"

Chiron shook his head. "We called her that. It is... an interesting thing, her name."

"So what was her name?" Allie asked, now as curious as I.

"Nut's full name was..." Chiron thought for a moment. "Nut Arianhrod An Horus-Jacobsen"

"Her name is worse than mine..." Allie muttered.

"Which was her last name?" I asked. "She has too many names."

"An Horus-Jacobsen." Chiron replied. "Why are you so interested?"

"Oh, I had a dream where she was talking to my mom, who was- is- her daughter." I said, offhandedly.

Chiron looked at me. "Your past is more confused than I expected."

I looked at Allie out of the corner of my eye. She was looking at me.

"And what does that mean?" I asked slowly.

"That you need to speak to the Oracle." Chiron said.

I stared at him for a minute. "What?"

"I think you heard me." he said. "Allie may go with you as far as the downstairs of the Big House. She and I will await your descent."

The three of us walked up to the Big House in silence.

When we walked in the door, Allie and Chiron went to wait in the living room, and I proceeded up the stairs.

As I reached the attic, I felt more and more detached. I walked in, and wandered for a moment, touching the relics.

I steeled myself, and walked up to the Oracle.

"Why am I here?" I asked.

The foul mist spread out of her mouth, and I saw an aerial view of Camp Half- Blood. She began to speak, and it was like a voiceover, no physical representation was speaking.

**"**_**Help the son of the sea god for nought,**_

_**And win the alliance of a thing often sought.**_

_**Once the test is passed,**_

_**You'll know that you're last.**_

_**That line, thought to be dead,**_

_**Its symbol o'er your head.**_

_**The earth holds her breath.**_

_**Do you fortell death?**_

_**Which side shall you take?**_

_**Many lives are at stake."**_

The mist receded, and I was left confused in the attic with a mummified corpse.

I stood there for a moment longer, then slowly began down the steps.

As I was walking down the second floor hallway, I saw a small bathroom. I stepped in and splashed water on my face.

_Focus, Matters, _I told myself. I took a deep breath and stared at myself in the mirror.

I was still the same ol' me I had been two days ago.

Same wild brown hair, same brownish- green eyes, same stupid pimple on my chin, same freckles that looked splattered onto my face with paint... and yet something was different.

* * *

**Author's Note: And to those curious, no, I do NOT get these names off eBay, Chezarina is a traditional Greek name, meaning 'Caesar.' Materia means 'of this world' as Nut explains, and Accalia means 'Mythical Greek Name'**

**And as for Nut's name, it is a clue to her parent. If you guys dont get this by chapter 10, in Chapter 11 I will reveal her parent, m'kay?**

**A quick note to kelly**** and ****a friend: I would like to be able to have your email addresses, if possible. Mine is rideread at aol. com (space it out.) Thanks!**

**

* * *

**

**To my new reviewers:**

Ellen26, who has kindly agreed to read this story and give me much needed advice.

**To my regulars:**

Coco96

Annie-morphs

365. Pages. of. Awsomeness.

Toimi

MyPenIsSharperThanYourSword

Ard Rhys

A friend (anon.)- ok, you get the title, "World's longest reviewer" Happy now? and I really love reading your reviews. I look forward to any reviews, but yours especially. Oh, and you also get the title "the reviewer who makes me laugh the most, causing my family to stare strangely"

olympianchef213

kelly jackson (anon.)

Ultimacy on High

EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou (you place 2nd in the "world's longest review" contest.)

[[1/8/09]]


	10. An Analysis and Another Prophecy

Something was different about me.

I leaned closer to the mirror, my nose almost touching it.

I leaned back, and something changed for one split second. It happened so fast, I couldn't place it.

I sighed, and walked down to speak to Chiron and Allie.

"... and then Lucy said something, so now we're waiting." Allie was saying.

"Um, hi." I said, walking in.

Allie and Chiron turned to me.

"Well?" Chiron asked, raising an eyebrow.

I recited the prophecy to him like I was a robot.

He mulled it over for a moment, but he didn't look surprised or anything.

"Son of the sea god." Allie said. "That could mean Percy."

"Or it could be one of his older kids, or it could be Tyson..." I trailed off.

Allie stood. "We can go ask Percy and Annabeth, they have plenty of experience with prophecies."

I nodded. "Good- bye, Chiron!"

"Good-bye, Materia." Chiron said as we left.

We went to the Athena cabin first. Annabeth was sitting at a worktable, crouched over what appeared to be a MacBook, but as she turned to see who was at the door, I saw that instead of the apple symbol, it was the symbol of Daedelus.

"Oh, hey." She said, tucking whisps of hair behind her ear. "Mattie, right? Hey, Allie."

"Yep, I'm Mattie." I said.

"Hi, Annabeth." Allie said.

Both of us were taking in the bunk beds shoved against the walls, each covered by a gray sheet with an owl on it.

"I guess I could use a break." Annabeth said, leaning back in her chair. "So, what's up?"

"I got a prophecy, and-" I began

"Whoa, hold up." Annabeth held up her hand. "_You_ got a _prophecy_ after being here for less than 24 hours?"

"Um, yeah..." I said slowly, dragging out the yeah.

Annabeth crinkled her forehead. "Thats odd. Beyond odd, going to weird and abnormal. But I'm interested. What's it say?" She leaned forward.

I slowly told her the prophecy, making sure I got all of the words exactly as the Oracle had said.

Annabeth carefully copied them onto a sheet of paper.

"Let's see what we can make of this." She said, studying the paper.

Allie and I walked up and stood behind her. Allie pulled up a chair, but I remained standing.

Annabeth launched into her analysis, jotting her notes into the area next to the appropriate line. "Sea god's son: probably Percy." She looked at me. "We don't know of any more of Poseidon's kids here, so it is probably him."

I shrugged.

"Thing often sought." She thought for a moment. "The camp already owns many of the most desireable items that heroes were always after, except for Heracles's poison arrows, so maye that?"

"Are there any other magical items that you know of?" I asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "Chiron probably does, though."

"Okay." I said. "What's next?"

"A test." She stuck the pencil into her mouth. "Not much that we can go into. A test is a test."

"Maybe like the test the Sphinx gave you?" I asked, looking at a picture of Chiron and little Annabeth taped to the wall.

"Earth to Mattie." Annabeth snapped her fingers in my face. "You asked for help. but if you aren't gonna listen..."

"I'm listening." I said quickly.

"Okay, then." she turned back to the paper, reading the next line. "Last could be anything, we need more information." She scribbled a note in the margin.

"Line thought to be dead: Maybe you're a Big Three-"

I interrupted. "Both Grover and Lucy insist I'm not a Big Three." I told her.

"Or you could be the daughter of Artemis or someone else who wasn't supposed to have kids." She continued. "I think the whole key to this prophecy is finding your parent."

Annabeth craned her neck to look me in the face. "This isn't about saving the world, it's about finding your place in the world."

I smiled. "That sounds like something my mom would say."

Annabeth put the pencil down. "So your dad is the god."

I shook my head. "I was adopted." I realized I was wearing the same shorts I had been wearing yesterday, so I dug out the note to let Annabeth read.

She scanned it. "That is weird." She said, handing it back to me. "Your mom or dad- whichever was mortal- broke the rules. You have to raise your half-blood kid."

Percy walked in before I could say anything. He looked surprised to see Allie and I.

"Hi...Mally," he said, obviously not remembering my name.

"No." I said. "I'm Mattie."

"Okay, got it." Percy said. "Hey, Allie."

"Hi." she said, still looking around the cabin.

"What do you want, Percy?" Annabeth asked.

"I got another prophecy." he said.

"What?" all three of us said at once.

"Yep." he said. "It was different than the other ones I've had." He dug in his pocket. "Here, I'll read it to you."

"**_Win the chase,_**

**_Or accept the dare,_**

**_Mind what was once the goat's lace,_**

**_And of your words take care._**

**_To succeed at the quest,_**

**_No travel is needed_**

**_Just choose the best,_**

**_Neither has cheated_**

**_Survive one ship will,_**

**_While the other shall sink_**

**_Whose heart will be killed?_**

**_It's all on the brink."_**

Annabeth stared in puzzled silence. "I'm not even gonna try to analyze that." she turned back to the computer and began to type again.

Suddenly, it hit me, and I began to laugh. Really loudly and hysterically.

"What in the name of-" Percy began.

Allie rolled her eyes. "Apparently this is normal for her."

She stage whispered, "She didn't take her meds for the second day in a row."

"I do not take meds." I told her, angry enough that I stopped laughing. I hate repeating stuff.

"What epiphany did you have about Percy's prophecy?" Annabeth asked.

I shook my head like a naughty four year old. "Nope!" I giggled, "You hafta figure it out for yourselves."

Percy looked kind of annoyed.

Annabeth sighed, and handed me the paper. "Glad I could help. I'll see ya later."

Allie grabbed my arm and yanked me out of there. She hauled me past the lake, almost to the border.

"Are you inSANE?" she hissed. "You were acting totally psycho."

"Sorry." I apologized.

"It's okay." Allie said. "I get that."

I opened my mouth, but right then, I heard a grunt. I turned slowly.

A hellhound was creeping over the border.

* * *

**Author's Note: This chapter will not be this sucky for long. I am revising it and the rest of the story, so no new stuff will go up anytime soon. Thanks for your understanding.**

**I almost put in Nut's parent, then realized it, and deleted it. But, come on, guys, it is NOT THAT HARD! Go further into it, like 'a friend/the world's longest reviewer' did, and make the connection between her names.**

**And I can really churn out words late Friday/early Saturday. I mean, I surprise myself at my speed when I actually have a solid block of time to let everything happen.**

**And any guesses on Percy's prophecy...?**

* * *

**Thanks to my new reviewers:**

Bella (anon.) Thank you! I will keep that in mind, it is a worthwhile suggestion.

Jackalop72(anon.) - yes, that is the camp's address according to Rick Riordan's website. And, um... it is just fiction......

**To my regulars:**

Ultimacy on High

olympianchef213

a friend, who is now "the world's longest reviewer"

Ard Rhys, who, as I am typing this, is probably figurig out Nut's parentage...

[[1/10/09, but it's 2am CST, so I'm still saying it's Friday, not Saturday]]


	11. Fights and Visitors

Allie's eyes locked on the hellhound, instinct kicked in, as she glanced around for a weapon.

She was lucky; Someone had left a bow and a dozen or so arrows next to one of the targets, so she swiftly picked them up, and took aim.

"Thank the gods." Allie muttered, and swiftly notched the arrow, letting it fly. The hellhound, barely inside the border, ducked as the arrow zoomed over its head.

Unfazed by the miss, Allie smoothly followed up with a shot in the chest, then one to the stomach.

Within seconds, the hellhound was just dust.

Allie stood rooted to the spot, then stared at the dust, and then at the bow. "That was insanely quick," she muttered, eyes wide.

It took a minute, but I realized that I had ended up on the ground, my arms locked tightly around my knees,_ way to act heroic_.

"Wow, I'm impressed." I turned, hearing a voice I didn't recognize. A girl with orange hair that looked like it had been sawed off with a knife walked into my line of vision; she looked like she was about sixteen, even though she was only four feet tall.

"Hypatia," Allie said in a cold tone, and she didn't sound pleased. "Where's Zale?"

Hypatia cast a glance over her shoulder and shrugged, "Behind me somewhere."

I took a closer look at her. She was wearing a ratty green t-shirt, cutoff jean shorts with a pair of black high-top Converses. A wide, Celtic-looking dagger made of celestial bronze hung off of a belt loop.

But the most unusual thing about her was that the right side of her face, her right arm, her right leg, -probably the entire right half of her body- was covered in scars, scratches and burns. Some were half healed, some almost gone, and others looked fresh. Those on her face made a clear line between the right and left; half with scars, half without. It was hard to not gawk at them, though I had no doubt something bad would happen to me if Hypatia caught me staring at her.

"Here." A boy, more than six feet tall, with blue eyes and murky brown hair loped over.

He glanced up and down at Allie. "Nice shot," he grinned.

"Hello Zale." Allie said thinly, her eyes narrowing.

Allie didn't mention me, and they scared me too much for me to say anything, so I just sat there, watching the show.

Zale eyes widened, as he saw Allie's new bow and arrows. "May I see?" He asked.

Allie's eyes narrowed even further, but she let Zale hold them, but still wouldn't look away from them for a minute.

Zale turned them over. "No wonder it died so quickly." he murmured. He looked up. "These are Heracles's arrows, you know, the ones with Hydra's blood on the tip?"

He gave the bow and arrows back to Allie, who stared at him.

"You'll wanna keep 'em safe." Zale said, "Someone might take them."

For some reason, Hypatia found this hysterical, and she doubled over with laughter.

Zale didn't smile.

"Are you two siblings?" I spoke up finally.

Hypatia noticed me for the first time. "You are important." she stared at me for a moment then stood up straighter. "Sort of."

I frowned, "Was that the answer to my question?"

"We are siblings." Hypatia said. "...of a sort."

"How can you be 'sort of' siblings?" I asked.

"Technically, we're twins." Hypatia rolled her eyes.

I waited impatiently, knowing there was more to the story, ignoring the urge to tap my foot.

"We have the same mother, but different fathers." Zale finished.

"Wow, two gods at once?" I said, then immediately regretted it, not a brilliant joke.

But we all laughed anyways. It was forced laughter, making the atmosphere awkward.

Once we had stopped giggling nervously, Allie thankfully changed the subject, "You need to tell Chiron you're here."

Hypatia nodded. "Come with us." This was no request, it was an order, but I could tell Allie trusted neither of them, so she probably would have gone along with them anyway.

We were headed towards the Big House, but just as we were walking over the hill, the conch blew for lunch, so changed direction, and proceeded to go to the pavilion.

Hypatia and Zale sat with us at the Hermes table.

"Why aren't you guys sitting at your dads' tables?" I asked.

"Our fathers do not have cabins at this camp." Hypatia told me.

"Oh." I replied softly, then focused intently on pushing my food around my plate.

I noticed that I had more space at the table than usual. I looked over and saw that everyone had made a LOT of space for Hypatia and Zale. Most of the older kids were watching them like the twins were wolves about to steal their food.

The younger kids were just emulating the older kids and glancing warily over here every once in a while, they probably had no idea who they were.

After everyone ate, Chiron stood and asked if anyone had any announcements.

Hypatia stood, but she was so short, no one saw, so she hopped up on the table.

"Chiron!" she called.

Everyone turned, and uneasy murmuring raced around the pavilion.

"For those who do not know," Chiron began, "This is Hypatia and her brother Zale. They are nomads, and they stop in from time to time."

No one said anything as Hypatia sat back down, but all eyes were following her.

Chiron cleared his throat, and everyone swiveled back to him.

"Also, tonight is Capture the Flag."

Unlike Hypatia's announcement, there were cheers as Chiron said this, campers loved Capture the Flag.

Even Hypatia's eyes lit up.

"That is all, campers," He said over the noise. "You may go to your activities now!" He raised his voice.

The rest of the Hermes table set off quickly, and I scurried after them.

We followed the group till we came to the arena.

Hypatia's eyes lit up as she caught sight of the heavy weaponry and battle armor. "Excellent," she whispered to herself.

She walked over to the swords. Everyone immediately cleared out of the way, as she got pick of the lot. She spun it around, testing it, then nodded, satisfied, and backed off, allowing others to pick their own sword.

"Mattie." Hypatia directed at me. "Spar with me."

The look in her eyes made me say yes, even though I hadn't ever held a sword.

I grabbed the first one I saw. Not a good idea.

The rest of the campers fell silent, and moved out of our way to watch. Great, more of an audience for this disaster.

Hypatia circled around me, sword held high. After her attack, I managed to hold her off for a grand total of five seconds.

She lunged, and I parried a second too late.

Her sword caught my skin and ripped it open from my left shoulder to my elbow.

I gasped in pain, dropping the sword with a clatter. I clutched my arm and felt sick when I felt the skin flapping and the blood oozing out.

Hypatia smirked, "I win," She turned away, ignoring the wound she had inflicted on me.

"Gods, Hypatia, can't you see she's hurt?" Allie yelled, racing towards me.

She examined the wound, which was gushing blood now. "You need to get to the infirmary."

Allie glanced around. "Alex, gimme your shirt."

Alex handed it over without complaint, and Allie wrapped it around my arm.

She walked me as fast as I could to the infirmary, while I attempted not to pass out due to blood loss, as the arena started to spin.

* * *

**Author's Note: *sigh* Thanks for being so patient in waiting for an update. Updates from now on will be every other week. Thanks for reading my story!**

**Thanks for all of the encouragement:**

Ellen26 **(**my beta**)  
**

EdwardCullenIsCoolerThanYou

Annie-morphs

365. Pages. of Awsomeness.

Ultimacy on High **(**it says you already reviewed because I changed all of the chappie #'s because I squooshed together the original chapters 1 2 and 3.**)**

Toimi

Bella (anon.) **(**thanks so much!**)**

kelly jackson (anon.) **(**that's okay...it doesn't really matter**)**

k (anon.)** (**thanks!**)**


	12. The Infirmary

We walked -well, Allie walked, I stumbled- through the infirmary door, and an older boy with sitting at a desk reading a magazine glanced up.

The boy had a shocked expression on his face when he saw the blood coming out of my arm, which I held high above my head, trying desperately to stem the blood flow. It wasn't working, and I could feel the sickening trickles of blood drip into my hair as the boy hurried over.

"Oh, gods," he said, gently taking hold of my arm and turning it. "What happened?"

"Hypatia," Allie said grimly, bringing me over to a cot and lowering me down.

The boy went over to a cupboard and pulled out some ambrosia and bandages. "That girl needs a shock collar," he muttered, handing me the ambrosia.

Allie nodded. "How can Chiron let her get away with that?"

The boy sighed, wrapping the bandages slowly around my arm. "He thinks Zale is the issue, not her."

I slowly chewed the ambrosia, feeling the pain recede slowly. The feeling of I'm-about-to-faint, however, did not go away, and the nauseating feeling in my stomach still lingered.

"There, all done," The boy stood back, admiring his work, "but, I'm sad to say, you can't play Capture the Flag tonight."

"Wow, that's too bad," I said, in what I hoped was a sarcastic voice. I wasn't really disappointed, I'd never played before, so how was I to know if it was fun or not?

Right then, the door opened, and Dylan and girl walked in, supporting a third between them. The girl in the middle was in pretty bad shape, she was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down her caramel skin, while basically being carried by Dylan and the other girl, holding her ankle out gingerly in front of her.

"The lengths you go to to get out of Capture the Flag." The boy sighed. "Natalie, why?"

I was shocked at his casual attitude, because this girl, Natalie, seemed to be really hurt! She looked Hispanic, with long black hair and rather small facial features.

She choked on a sob, "It hurts!"

"Sarah?" The boy looked to the other girl.

Sarah nodded reluctantly. "Unless this is a really good hoax, Nat hurt herself bad."

The boy turned to Dylan.

"Colby, she tripped while racing." Dylan said. "Her foot went one way, and the rest of her body went the other way, we heard her ankle crack. I think she broke it."

Colby lifted Natalie onto a table, and examined her ankle; she let out a hiss of pain as he gingerly pulled off her shoe.

Dylan gently patted her on the back, "S'okay," he soothed.

"Wow, you did break it." Colby marveled, his eyes wide as he tenderly examined the swollen ankle.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm goin' back," she said to Natalie. "See ya, sis." She walked out the door.

Colby set to work binding Natalie's ankle in a thick bandage, most likely as a temporary measure till a proper cast could be put on it. She winced with every move, tears still tracking down her checks, as she gulped down some nectar.

Natalie sighed and seemed to notice me. She smiled weakly, "What happened to you?"

"Nothing," I said, "I mean_,_ _I_ did nothing. Hypatia ripped my arm open."

"Oh!" Natalie winced, I wasn't sure if it was because of her foot, or what I was saying. "Your arm? At least she only got my foot." She gestured to the same foot Colby was working on. "It's always this foot, too. I think it's just weaker."

"Hey, Mattie, if you're okay, I'm gonna go back to the arena and make sure Hypatia doesn't maim anyone else today." Allie said. I had almost forgotten about her in the rush of Natalie's arrival, "and plus, I'd really like to play Capture the Flag, if that's okay?" She looked at me hopefully.

I smiled, "I'm fine, go play Capture the Flag!" Allie almost skipped out of the room, beaming.

"Come sit."

I jumped as Natalie patted the table next to her.

I got off the cot and walked over to the table and sat down, gently cradling my bandaged arm. "What was Colby saying when you walked in?"

"I'm right here, you know." he said, pausing to brush his white-blond hair out of his eyes.

Natalie rolled her eyes and winced as Colby wrapped her bandaged ankle in the biggest ice pack I had ever seen... it was probably so that it would work through the bandage. "I hate Capture the Flag on principle," she explained. "My mom is Demeter, and as a general rule, my siblings and I don't like violence."

"Oh." I said, not really sure how to respond.

Natalie smiled.

I smiled back.

"All done," Colby said, patting Natalie's knee, as well as using it to push himself up, then went back to his magazine, "I'll put a more permanent bandage on it when it's less swollen."

An awkward silence fell.

I swung my legs back and forth. I couldn't think of anything to say, and Natalie was sitting fiddling with the hem of her tee-shirt, wincing as the ice seeped in through the bandage, both of us unsure of what to do.

My brain ran sluggishly, and I felt absolutely exhausted, as if someone had pulled the plug on my energy. Today had taken so long, it had been never-ending.

Yawning, I got down off the table, went back to the cot and curled up.

Faintly, I heard Natalie say, "Colby, Mattie fell asleep..." but the darkness had already swallowed me up, and I fell off the edge into unconsciousness.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I woke up to the tweeting of birds. The sound was too airy for night birds, so I cracked open my eyes and was met with bright daylight.

_I slept through dinner and the night? _I thought. _Man, I must have been tired._

As I stretched, snippets of my dream came back to me.

_Zale was standing on the beach. He reached into the surf and pulled a key out of the water._

_He held it for a moment, then walked up to the Hermes cabin, took out Allie's new quiver of arrows and placed the key in it._

I was sure there had been more to the dream, but I couldn't really remember.

I sat there for a few minutes, then crawled out of the bed. I thought for a moment and walked out of the infirmary and down the hill.

Everyone was already in the pavilion, so I walked up, got my food, and sat down at the Hermes table next to Allie and across from Hypatia and Zale. It seemed like the other kids were giving Hypatia and Zale an even wider berth than yesterday, maybe because of my arm.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Allie smiled brightly.

"Hi," I yawned, muffling the attempt at a greeting.

"You feeling better?" She asked, taking a big bite of food.

I shrugged, shoveling as much food as possible into my mouth. It wasn't as much as I could handle, given that I had to eat with my right hand, but I managed to shove enough in that my mother would have been horrified at my manners.

Allie continued talking. "Chiron thought it was best to let you sleep it off, but you missed an _awesome_ game of Capture the Flag."

"Awfumm?" I mumbled. I had attempted to say 'awesome' but due to the large amount of food, and the fact I had been sleeping for so long, it hadn't come out quite as clear as it needed to be.

Allie nodded enthusiastically, and rambled off with specifics. I could almost feel my eyes glazing over.

Not listening, I just started nodding, with an "uh-huh" or an "Oh, really?" thrown in every once in a while.

Once breakfast was over, a kid I didn't recognize came up to me. I frowned at the boy, who had chosen to stand directly in the sunlight, causing me to squint against the bright beams.

"You're Mattie, right?" He smiled, and I noticed the abnormal brightness of his teeth. "Yeah, I'm Mattie," I said. "Why?"

He shook his golden hair out of his eyes with a flick of his head. "Do you want to organize tomorrow night's sing-along?" he asked.

"Sure!" I said brightly. "That sounds like fun!"

"Great," he said. "I'll tell Chiron that you said yes."

He walked off.

"Well, that was strange." I said, turning to Allie.

She groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Do you realize how much work that is?" she asked. "You have to organize, like, every detail! Please, in future, think things through!"

"Oh." I said, feeling like the ground had dropped out beneath me. "This is a train wreck in the making."

Allie sighed grimly. "Well, the kid just told Chiron, so Camp Half-Blood had better get ready for one heck of a sing-along."

* * *

**Author's Note: Special thanks to Ellen 26, my beta reader. (Oh, and sorry about the long time taking to update... we had some beta-ing issues...)**

**A NOTE TO REVIEWERS:** Guys, you are totally abusing the privilege of me acknowledging your input publicly. If I continue to get harassed about this, the list will go away.  
Also, only review if you have something to say about the chapter, preferably constructive criticism.

**And, as always, to my marvelous reviewers, both new and old:**

kelly jackson (anon.)

jonove 1203 (anon.) thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

Annie-morphs

365. Pages. of. Awsomeness

A friend

Toimi

Coco96

Ard Rhys

Star Dust2345


	13. Organizing the Stupid Sing Along

I bit my lip, already mentally freaking out. _Deep breaths, Mattie,_ I tried to remind myself, though my mind was going in circles, trying to figure out a way to possibly do this.

Allie patted my back consolingly. "I'll help you," she promised.

"Oh, thank the gods," I said, and gave her a quick hug, making sure not to jolt my arm, or hurt it in any way.

We hurried back to the Hermes cabin, got paper and pens, recruited Lucy, who agreed to help us after I apologized profusely for my behavior yesterday, and we all got to work trying to organize the stupid sing-along.

Allie went around camp, trying to get people to sing, dance or whatever other possible talent they had, and about forty people followed her back to the table where we were sitting.

"Um, Lucy?" I asked.

"Yeah?" she said, absentmindedly doodling a map of camp.

"Do we have a time limit?" I asked, looking at all of the people.

Lucy followed my gaze. "Nope, it doesn't matter," she smiled reassuringly.

I sighed, "Good, because with this many people, the sing-along will take about four hours."

Then we had to stop talking and get to work.

Allie carefully wrote down the kids' name, Lucy wrote the title of their act, and I wrote down the amount of time it would take.

It took absolutely _forever__,_ but we were finished everyone before lunchtime, which was good; we had to get all of the crap out of the pavilion before lunch, so we toted it to the arena and left it there while we ate.

Once we had our food, and we sat down, I noticed that Zale and Hypatia weren't there. I pointed this out to Allie.

"Good, maybe they left," she said hopefully.

Right then, however, the two came in quickly and slid onto the Hermes cabin bench.

"Dangit," I heard Allie mutter under her breath, as she narrowed her eyes at the twins.

Zale was sitting next to me, across from Hypatia, with Allie next to her. Zale seemed twitchy, and Hypatia looked smug.

I wondered what they had done, and figured that I would find out sooner or later.

As it turned out, I found out sooner rather than later.

When we went to the arena to gather our papers, they were gone.

"They took them!" Allie stormed angrily.

"Who's they?" Lucy asked.

"Hypatia and Zale, that's who!" Allie yelled, pulling at the roots of her hair, pacing back and forward.

"Chill," Lucy said, putting a hand on Allie's elbow.

Allie took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

"We can just wing it," I said, as if stating the obvious. They both turned and looked at me with confused looks.

"Just call people out of the audience to perform. Not even worry about it," I answered casually. "Winging it got me an A+ in my English oral report; I have a talent for it."

"You just don't want to work," Allie accused.

"Maybe it's a sign from the gods," I said, desperately grasping at straws. "You know, them saying 'don't put too much work into this' or something like that."

Lucy looked skeptical, but she sighed and said, "Mattie, your way usually turns out okay -not great, but okay- so I'll trust you on this."

Allie shrugged. "Whatever. What should we do in the meantime?"

"We can climb the climbing wall," Lucy suggested hopefully.

I shrugged, "Sounds good to me."

Allie groaned. "I _hate_ the climbing wall."

"You were the one who suggested we do something else," I reminded her as we walked to the wall.

It soon became apparent _why_ Allie hated the climbing wall. She sucked at it. After nearly being crushed by boulders four times (in one climb), she refused to try again.

Of course, Lucy was scampering up and down multiple times while the walls shook like they were in an earthquake.

I wasn't as horrible as Allie, but I was nowhere near as good as Lucy. I was about average, and I made it up three times without being crushed, but after a close call the fourth time, I admitted defeat.

As Lucy dodged a particularly big boulder, I couldn't watch. I looked down to see that Allie was lying on her back, staring at the sky.

"Wat'cha lookin' at?" I asked, peering into her face.

Allie pushed herself back up to a sitting position.

"The sun," she said simply.

I looked at her for a moment, not comprehending, when suddenly, the pieces clicked into place. Understanding dawned. "Your father is Apollo," I said.

Allie looked at me. "You only realized now?"

I avoided her gaze, hearing the edge of bitterness in her voice. "Amazingly, yes," I said, staring out over the sound. "Something has to be really obvious for me to notice."

"Um, Mattie?" Allie asked.

"Yeah?" I said, still looking out at the water.

"You might want to look up."

I slowly did, afraid of what I might find.

Nothing scary was over me, only a man wearing a postal uniform.

I stood up, brushing myself off.

"Are you Materia Maddox?" he asked, consulting a clipboard.

"Yes..." I said slowly.

"Sign here," he said, handing me the clipboard.

I signed my name, and handed it back to him. He handed me a small box, saying, "Postage was paid by the sender. Have a nice day." He turned and walked off.

I looked after him, then to the box.

"Who was that?" I asked Allie.

She looked at me, eyes wide. "That was Hermes," she said in awe. "You were just visited by a **_god_**."

"He was just doing his job, geez." I said, carefully opening the package.

The first thing I saw was a note, wedged inside.

I unfolded it, and Allie read over my shoulder.

_Dearest Materia,_

_The only way to get to you was through Hermes, and thankfully, I still have enough connections to send packages._

_Of course, you are probably wondering who this is. I am Nut, your adoptive grandmother and also your relative._

_My father is Zeus, if you did not already deduce from the day you visited me in your dream-form._

_I wanted to give you this. You will need it in the days to come. A wise old woman gave it to me long ago, telling me to give it to the "green granddaughter". I am not sure what she meant by green, but since you are my only granddaughter, and also a godling, I figured you are the one she meant._

_If you need to contact me, I am now in the process of getting out of that horrible nursing home and moving into Che and Luc's house._

_Something is off about your adoptive father, Materia. I would be careful of any correspondence with him until you know of your parentage._

_Love Always,_

_Nut_

I set down the note, and gently pulled out the object in the package. It was a little vial of silvery mist.

I held it up to the light. There were no special markings on it, nothing to say that it was anything but a normal bottle.

Allie broke the silence. "Wow,"

I wrinkled my forehead. Something seemed familiar about this vial, but when nothing immediately came to mind, I put the vial back into the box and sat down.

"What is it?" I asked.

"What's what?" Lucy asked, walking up. She was all sweaty, and her face was red.

"I got a package from my grandmother, delivered by Hermes, she thinks there's something off about my dad, and I got a vial of weird liquid," I said, holding up the little bottle.

Suddenly, Allie sat up ramrod straight. "What if it's the thing often sought?" she said excitedly.

Lucy looked confused. "Huh?"

I quickly explained about the prophecy, and realizing I was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, I dug Annabeth's analysis out of my pocket, handing it to Lucy.

Once she read it over, she handed it back and we sat for a while, thinking about it.

"But I didn't help the son of the sea god," I said. "I think I have to do that to get the thing."

Allie screwed up her face. "What if, when you figured out Percy's prophecy yesterday, that was helping him?"

My eyes lit up, but then I slumped. "But I didn't tell him anything. I figured it out, but I didn't say anything."

We sat there for a while, enjoying the cool breeze, until Lucy suddenly made a horrible face. "What is that smell?!" She scrunched up her nose, frowning at me.

I glanced around, then, with a growing sense of horror, I realized I hadn't showered since arriving at camp.

Freaking out, I jumped to my feet, tearing off in the direction of the cabins, before they could realize what the smell was.

Obviously, I couldn't just run away, they both had to run after me. Both of them were much faster then me, so they caught up to me at the mess hall.

Allie seized my arm, and Lucy grabbed my waist, to prevent my injured arm from being hurt any more.

"What was that about?" Lucy demanded.

"I stink!" I wailed, alarmed. "I haven't showered in three days!"

Lucy and Allie exchanged looks. "You don't smell bad, Mattie," Allie frowned, confused.

"How can I not?" I cried, still trying to escape their grip. "I haven't showered in three freaking days!"

Another look was exchanged over my head.

Lucy said, "Mattie, these insane running-away-when-you-freak-out episodes are NOT HEALTHY."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, suddenly stopping my struggling.

"When you realized you hadn't called your parents, you freaked. Just now, when you thought you smelled bad, you freaked. Just… chill," Lucy answered calmly, rubbing my back consolingly.

I inhaled, held my breath, and exhaled slowly. "So I really don't stink?" I asked doubtfully.

They both shook their heads energetically. "You just smell..." Allie leaned in and sniffed. "Kind of earthy, but not, like, sweaty or anything."

Lucy nodded in agreement, and they let go of my arms.

"I'm still taking a shower," I told them.

"Sure, whatever," Allie said, "just as long as you don't freak out again."

I rolled my eyes. "I won't."

Trekking back to the cabin, I took a quick shower in the grubby bathroom, trying not to touch the floor as much as possible. As I was changing into a clean Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and clean jeans, I heard the conch blow for dinner.

Since I hadn't tied my hair back yet, and I didn't feel like looking for a headband or hair-tie, I just let it hang down as I ran back to the pavilion. It was soaking through my tee-shirt, and was already starting to curl.

I slowed down as I got closer, and I absentmindedly noted that I needed a haircut, my hair was touching the bottom of my shoulder blades.

I slipped onto the bench beside Allie, who, for once, was not near Hypatia and Zale.

"Hi..." she trailed off. "Holy crap, Mattie. Your hair." She reached out and touched it.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked defensively, recoiling nervously.

"Nothing," Allie said, "just that it's so pretty... why do you keep it in that knot at the back of your head?"

I touched my hair. "That's because it only stays like this for about an hour, then begins to frizz out."

We stood to get our food, and continued our conversation.

"...then at least leave it like this for the rest of the night." Allie said, trying to pressure me into leaving my hair down.

"Fine, whatever," I said, finally giving in. As Allie grinned, I held up a finger. "But- I'm warning you, it will get super-frizzed."

Allie gave me a non-committal wave, like, _'yeah, whatever, you'll eat your words.'_

We hurried back to the table to find that everyone had shifted seats, and we were stuck, once again, across from Hypatia and Zale.

Hypatia had a gleam in her eyes that I recognized from right before she slashed me, though this time, it was directed at the word in general, not just me.

Zale was extremely quiet, just a hulking mass with shifty eyes cramming food into his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

"Something is wrong..." I said quietly into Allie's ear.

She leaned back and said, "Like always, we'll find out soon."

* * *

**Author's Note: Once again, special thanks to Ellen 26, my beta. My story would be stuck and crappy without your help.**

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	14. The Sing Along and Something Unexpected

**I would like to say that this is the last chapter for a while. I am out of the country until June 21st, but I will update on either the 22nd or 23rd. I decided not to be evil, so this chapter does NOT end with a cliffhanger.**

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* * *

**

I looked nervously across the table. Zale looked up and held my gaze for a moment, his eyes like those of a feral cat; haughty and dangerous.

Startled, I slowly returned my gaze to my plate.

I heard footsteps behind me. Then Lucy's hushed voice filled my ear. "Bad news, Hypatia and Zale have sabotaged the show. We don't know how yet though..." Lucy trailed off, chewing her lip.

I craned my neck around to look into her face. "Okay, I assumed they _would _sabotage it in some way, but it would be helpful if we knew what exactly they did."

Lucy shrugged. "Just be on the alert," she said quietly. "Then if something bad happens, we have someone to blame."

"What's the point," I paused to take a bite, "If we can't prove it?"

"We'll find a way," she said, patting my shoulder and clopping back to the head table.

Dinner flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to head to the campfire.

The entire journey down, Lucy was biting the crap out of what was left of her fingernails, and Allie was mumbling something to Alex. I caught myself listening to snippets of their conversation, unable to figure out what they were talking about.

"-doesn't work… help...friend-" Allie said.

As everyone sat in the stands, Chiron clopped out in front. "Greetings, campers," he said. "Tonight, Materia Maddox will be running the show. Mattie?" Chiron gestured that I should join him up there. I gulped and walked in front of the many sets of eyes.

"Um, hi," I said nervously. "We're gonna run this...um, differently this time. We'll call people out to perform and stuff...so..." I took a deep breath. "Any volunteers?"

I waited for a full minute, but no one volunteered. _This is such a disaster! _I panicked, unable to think of what to do.

"We volunteer," Allie said, hauling Alex up. "Colby, can I see your guitar?"

My eyes scanned around the crowd, until they found where Colby, the kid who was running the Infirmary yesterday, was sitting. He had a guitar on his lap, and was sitting with the Apollo kids.

"Sure," he said with a shrug, and he handed the guitar to Allie.

Allie passed it to Alex, and they took the stage.

Allie sang some song with Greek lyrics, but I could understand about every other word, something about the circle of life... ( And I know what you're thinking. It didn't sound anything like that song from _The Lion King_)

It was sort of long, but no one moved. Alex, to his credit, was weaving the harmony so skillfully... no wonder they assumed Apollo was their dad. In the next second, however, it was no longer an assumption. There was a ripple of gasps as a glowing sun appeared over each of their heads.

Under the suns' bright glows, I saw Allie and Alex exchange a grin, and then they launched into a new song that sounded like a rejoicing song. It probably was; I mean, they'd been waiting for _years_ to be claimed, and now they finally were. Who _wouldn't _be rejoicing?

They ended up leading the entire sing-along, but I didn't mind. They totally deserved the spotlight.

It wasn't until we had been dismissed back to our cabins that I realized they had to move out of the Hermes cabin.

Before she took the last bit of her stuff over to the Apollo cabin, Allie took a last look around and sighed. "It's been home," she said. Her eyes lingered on her bed, which had already been claimed by Hypatia, no one had dared to challenge her. Allie smiled, and as she walked out the door, she patted me on the back. "We'll still hang out, though," she promised.

I nodded, forcing down the feeling that we wouldn't be 'hanging out' after this.

With a final wave, Allie left. I stood at the doorway, staring at the sky, lost in my own little world, while everyone else rushed around behind me. I didn't move until someone called, "Light's out!" and everything was suddenly plunged into darkness. I stumbled towards my sleeping bag, trying not to step on anyone. Once I got to my bag, I slipped inside and fell into a light doze. Two hours later, I jolted awake.

I squirmed out of my sleeping bag, trying to see what had woken me up. I thought I saw a shadow at the door, but when I blinked, it disappeared. I was about to go back to sleep when I realized that I had to use the bathroom. I stood up and banged my head on Allie's old bunk- the one that Hypatia was sleeping in. She turned and glared at me, but then she rolled back over and fell asleep. I breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't tried to attack me again. Slightly more carefully, I tripped over to the door, slammed into the doorway, and when I staggered back, I stepped on someone, and they woke up.

"Sorry!" I whispered, biting my lip.

The person grunted, then rolled back over and resumed their snoring.

I made it to the bathroom and back without any more mishaps, and I was very, very careful when stepping over everyone. I gave a sigh of relief when I was back in my sleeping bag, but as I snuggled in, I hit my head on Hypatia's bunk. I froze.

"My gods," she muttered. "You do that again, and I'm gonna beat the crap out of you next Capture the Flag."

"Sorry!" I squeaked, knowing that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt me again.

After a few minutes of fearing for my life, I fell asleep; deeply asleep.

I had the same dream I had last night in the Infirmary, about Zale and the key and Allie's arrows and the water. Still, I couldn't make sense of it.

In the mad rush that was everyone frantically cleaning up for inspection, I didn't notice anything odd. But once we got into the pavilion for breakfast, I did. Zale wasn't there, and, come to think of it, I hadn't seen him at all this morning.

As I thought this, Hypatia's head snapped up. "Where's Zale?" she asked the table at large, a dangerous tone to her voice.

No one could say, and with each passing second, Hypatia got more and more pissed. After breakfast, when Chiron asked for announcements, Hypatia scrambled up onto the table and said, "Zale's left already, and once breakfast is over, I'm heading out myself."

Chiron blinked, and slowly said, "May the gods go with you both." Hypatia smiled and got off the table. She sat there impatiently while Chiron reminded everyone that the weekly game of Capture the Flag would be Tuesday instead of Friday, and once everyone was dismissed, Hypatia was off and running. We all watched her run past the cabins and out of sight in dead silence while Chiron and Mr. D headed off to the archery range and the Big House, respectively.

"Yes!" someone yelled, and suddenly everyone was rejoicing that the twins were gone.

I didn't cheer, but I cracked a smile as I watched the younger kids (and some of the older ones too) make absolute fools of themselves. But, after a while, they all calmed down and trickled off to their various activities.

After the Hermes kids reached the Archery range, I tried to shoot the arrow properly. After numerous attempts, I succeeded in grazing the target. I worked for another hour or so, and finally got the arrow to hit the outside edge.

I stopped shooting after that, and put my bow and arrows back where they needed to be, sitting down to rest my feet and drink some water. As I sipped out of the canteen, I watched my cabinmates shoot the targets n varying levels of accuracy. The older kids were usually better, I guess because they've practiced more, but there were a few exceptions. After ten minutes of people-watching, I decided to give archery one more shot.

I set down the canteen and walked back over to the pile of equipment, selecting a quiver with a bundle of arrows, a bowstring, and an unstrung bow in it. I asked Chiron to help me string the bow, but he was distracted, trying to keep Travis and Conner Stoll from shooting each other, so I figured it out through trial and error.

As I notched the arrow, I noticed that this bow felt different than the other one had, but I didn't think too much of it. I released the arrow, and it flew to the center of the bull's-eye. Shocked, I glanced around, making sure that no one had seen this miraculous change, and hurried forward to retrieve the arrow. I brought it and the bow back past the safety line, and studied the arrow carefully.

It looked vaguely familiar. I carefully touched my finger to the very tip of the arrow, and right before my finger made contact, I remembered. These were the arrows Allie had fought the hellhound with. They were poisoned. I breathed a small sigh of relief that I hadn't touched the head. As I set down the arrow, I noticed small, spidery script along the shaft. I brought it close to my face and made out the words, _push in arrowhead to release poison_.

I tucked the arrow back into the quiver along with the bow, resolving to give it to Allie after lunch. Almost at the same moment, the conch blew, announcing lunch. I slung the quiver over my back and followed the stream of kids towards the pavilion.

I took my usual place at the end of the table, but instead of Allie across from me, I now was facing Dylan.

"That was an… interesting sing-along last night," Dylan said, putting a hand in front of his mouth, as he attempted to eat and speak at the same time.

"Thank you?" I said, not sure if he was serious.

He swallowed. "It was definitely not the worst one we've had," he assured me. "That one was years ago, even I wasn't here yet. I think Annabeth's the only one who was actually there, but she's told the story hundreds of times."

I leaned forward, intrigued. "Really? What happened?"

Dylan told me about the serious of insane happenings that led to Chiron leading the sing-along in a prom dress. I hung on every word; that kid was a brilliant storyteller. He finished up the story right as Chiron dismissed us to our afternoon activities.

I said a quick goodbye to Dylan, and sought out Allie in the crowd. I eventually found her and pulled her aside. "I have your bow and arrows," I told her, and she looked momentarily confused, so I clarified.

"The ones you found right before Hypatia showed up?"

Her expression turned stormy. "Do they work?" she asked coldly.

"Uhh…" I said, not wanting to say anything, but my silence said more than my words.

Allie smiled a tight-lipped smile. "If they work for you, you can keep them," she said gently. "They won't work for me anymore."

I nodded slowly. "I'll see you later, then."

Allie waved and ran off to join her siblings while I caught up with the other Hermes kids. I followed them down to the lake, where the afternoon was spent learning naval tactics and fighting against each other and the orange sea monster.

* * *

**Once again, über-special thanks to Ellen 26, my AMAZING beta, who finds time in her insane schedule to help me with my story. My story would be on indefinite hold without her input.**

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	15. A Visitor and A Fight

The next two days passed in quick succession, with the Hermes cabin participating in regular camp activities. I started hanging out with Dylan a lot, because Allie seemed to have dumped me for her newfound siblings. I guess that's what happens when you get claimed.

I was shocked at dinner that night when someone sat down next to me. The boy's plate clattered nosily down on the table as he flopped onto a stool, a mop of murky brown hair flopping into his eyes. It was Zale.

Everyone else at the table looked as surprised as I felt. He got his food without saying a word, and started shoveling it in. Not paying attention to any of us, even though we were watching his every move.

Gradually, the chatter in the pavilion turned back to almost normal levels, the only difference being the occasional glance towards Zale.

Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. "Where's Hypatia?" I asked him.

He shook his head, and I was about to start pestering him, but then Chiron released us back to the cabins. I dragged Zale aside, and started barraging him with questions. He waited until there was nothing left to ask before finally speaking.

"Done yet?" He asked. I nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "Good. What was the first question?"

"Why isn't Hypatia here?" I asked, not sure if I could trust his answer.

Zale shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. She's probably hunting down the false trail I left her." He reached up, and brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, before glancing around the camp.

"False trail?" I asked, utterly confused.

He nodded. "When I left, I didn't want to be followed. I thought for sure she'd come after me within minutes, so I set a false trail, then... hid." I frowned, sure he'd been about to say something else, but had changed his mind at the last second.

"And then...?" I prompted.

"She didn't come after me all night, so I was able to get into a good hiding spot... with Dad's help. Now I'm back here, and I don't have to listen to her anymore." Zale explained in a rush, a slight smile creeping over his mouth.

"You went to all that trouble so she'd stop bugging you." I said doubtfully, folding my arms across my chest. "That's kind of... extreme."

"Hypatia's kind of 'extreme'," he said, making air quotes around extreme. "When Hypatia asks you to do something, you do it, otherwise... you get hurt." His eyes lingered on my still-bandaged arm. "Sometimes, you get hurt either way. You know that."

I nodded. "But... why didn't she come after you?" I thought that Hypatia was an amazing hunter, she should have been able to find Zale.

Zale's smile slowly widened. "You got in the way and confused her," he said. "When you got out of your bunk in the middle of the night - tripping over everything in the process- the sound of me leaving was covered up by your klutziness."

"Oh," I said, unsure whether to be flattered or annoyed. "I am pretty klutzy."

"I'm glad Dad was able to take me in for the past few days," he said to himself, but I couldn't help but overhear. "Especially with all the issues he's having with Poseidon."

"Who is your dad?" I asked suddenly, brainwave hitting. "Is he a Big Three or something?"

Zale looked at me with a strange look on his face. "Do you ever stop asking questions?"

I shook my head, "No, no I don't." Then, not to be deterred, I asked again. "Who is your dad, anyways?"

Zale looked out towards either the woods or the water, I couldn't tell which. "Oceanos." he said finally.

"Ocean? Is that supposed to be a hint or something?" I cocked my head, waiting for a reply.

Zale shook his head. "Not ocean, Mattie, Oceanos. The ancient sea-god."

_Click._ I gaped at him. "Help the son of the sea god for naught!" I cried. "For naught didn't mean for nothing, it meant without knowing!" I started pacing the now-empty pavilion. "The thing often sought... the arrows!" Suddenly it all made sense.

Zale was looking at me like I was insane, but I ignored him and ran off to the cabins to tell Allie that I'd figured it out, but I couldn't find her anywhere. So I told Dylan instead.

"Cool," he said when I'd finished. "Those arrows are awesome." He grinned.

"That's all you have to say?" I asked, disappointed by his lack of response.

He shrugged. "Those arrows are awesome. What else could I say?"

As I got into my sleeping bag and Travis called "Lights Out!" I couldn't help but think that Allie wouldn't have said that.

I fell into a deep sleep easily, before frighteningly realistic dreams took over all sense of thought.

_I was standing in some nondescript room with no windows. Nothing was in the room except for a table with a map on it and a door. I couldn't see what it was, because right then, the door opened and a man came in. He had brownish-blond hair and a small beard, and he wore traditional Greek clothes. He didn't notice me. _

_He walked over to the map and stared at it, muttering to himself. I inched closer and looked at the map. It was a street map of Manhattan, with little gray plastic toy soldiers on it. Down in the bottom right corner, simple block script said: GRAY = TITANS/ALLIES. _

_I took a startled step back, and the man glanced up as if he heard me, but caught himself at the last second. I was standing in the Titan stronghold, obviously. But why? I got my answer pretty quickly._

_The door opened and banged closed. Standing there was my adoptive father, Luc, who I had been warned to stay away from. And now I knew why._

_He walked towards the other man and bowed, a short little head nod more than anything else. "We are nearly prepared, Shaper."_

_The other man, Shaper, stood up straight. "Good, Luc. I am glad to see that my trust was not misplaced."_

_Luc nodded. As he turned to leave, he muttered something under his breath, sounding almost fearful._

_"What was that?" Shaper called. _

_Luc turned. "I said, 'Thank you for Mattie.'"_

_Mattie_. The name reverberated in my head as the dream warped and faded.

"Mattie," a voice said. "Mattie, wake up." The voice sounded scared. I opened my eyes and saw Dylan leaning over me, shaking my shoulder urgently. It was still dark, but dawn was breaking. I could see part of his face, and he looked terrified.

"What's wrong?" I asked, immediately on guard.

"A drakon is at the Labyrinth entrance, and-"

"What!?!" I said, sitting upright, pulling on my shoes and finding my quiver. "I thought the Labyrinth was destroyed!"

"It was," Dylan said, "but a small tunnel remains on the surface. I think it burrowed under the border and up through the old Labyrinth tunnel."

I strung my bow, checked to make sure I had my Hydra arrows and a few regular ones, helped Dylan wake up the last few kids, and we ran to the border, where the rest of the camp was gathered. The Apollo kids were shooting off arrows as fast as they could, so the drakon looked like an enormous porcupine, but it still kept coming.

I pushed my way up to the archers, ending up next to Allie, and started firing off my regular arrows. I didn't think my Hydra arrows would help in this situation, and I didn't want to waste them.

When we were almost within range of the drakon's fire-breath, I began to lose hope that we would be able to kill it. I shot off my last arrow and moved out of the firing line. Mentally, I said a quick prayer. _Mom or Dad, whoever you are, help us kill the drakon._ Another volley of arrows flew, to no effect. _Please,_ I added as an after thought.

Less and less kids were shooting arrows, and more were readying their swords. Chiron held his arm up, ready to signal the charge, but the ground began shaking and pitching like a ship in a storm. Everyone was thrown to the ground as a particularly violent ripple surged through.

We all watched in horrified fascination as hills began to rise on either side of the monster. They grew over its head and suddenly plunged down, dragging the drakon underground. The ground shook for another minute, and then everything was still.

I stood up shakily, helping up those around me. As soon as we were sure we were okay, we turned to Chiron awaiting an explanation or an order, or something.

"What was that?" I yelled, glancing around the crowd of confused faces.

At the same moment someone else called out, "Who did that?"

Chiron looked nervous and a little frightened. That was one huge wave that took down the monster. Whoever did that had to have enormous powers. "I am not sure about either," he said, and I noticed a slight tremor in his voice. "But let us be glad that they did that."

Everyone was quiet for a minute, out of respect or something else, I'm not sure.

When Chiron spoke, his voice startled me. "You may all return to your cabins, if you like," he said. "We won't have a proper breakfast or lunch, we'll have an early lunch, with no breakfast so you can get a little more sleep."

As we all trudged back to the cabins, I heard a few Ares kids complaining. "We acted like total wimps!" one said. "I mean, only archers? If I had-"

Suddenly my eyes locked on a familiar figure. Allie whirled around to face the kid, who was at least twice her size. "Chiron had us only shooting because if we'd done proper battle, we'd all be dead!"

Without waiting for a reply, Allie pushed through to the front of the crowd and ran off, into her cabin.

* * *

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